History of Abkhazia

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The history of Abkhazia, a region in the South Caucasus, spans more than 5,000 years from its settlement by the lower-paleolithic hunter-gatherers to its present status as a partially recognized state.

Prehistoric settlement

One of the dolmens from Eshera (now at the Sukhumi Museum)
See also: Prehistoric Georgia

BCE), which covered most of what is now western Georgia and part of northeastern Anatolia
.

Abkhazia in antiquity

The written history of Abkhazia largely begins with the coming of the

Pityus, arguably near the modern-day coastal towns of Ochamchire, Gagra
, and Pitsunda, respectively.

The peoples of the region were notable for their number and variety, as classical sources testify.

Kartvelian tribal designations. The identity and origin of other peoples (e.g., Heniochi, Sanigae
) dwelling in the area is disputed. Archaeology has seldom been able to make strong connections between the remains of material culture and the opaque names of peoples mentioned by classical writers. Thus, controversies continue and a series of questions remain open.

The inhabitants of the region engaged in piracy, slave trade, and kidnapping people for ransom. Strabo described the habits of Achaei, Zygi, and Heniochi in his Geography as follows:[1]

These people subsist by piracy. Their boats are slender, narrow, light, and capable of holding about five and twenty men, and rarely thirty. The Greeks call them camaræ. ... They equip fleets consisting of these camaræ, and being masters of the sea sometimes attack vessels of burden, or invade a territory, or even a city. Sometimes even those who occupy the Bosporus assist them, by furnishing places of shelter for their vessels, and supply them with provision and means for the disposal of their booty. When they return to their own country, not having places suitable for mooring their vessels, they put their camaræ on their shoulders, and carry them up into the forests, among which they live, and where they cultivate a poor soil. When the season arrives for navigation, they bring them down again to the coast. Their habits are the same even in a foreign country, for they are acquainted with wooded tracts, in which, after concealing their camaræ, they wander about on foot day and night, for the purpose of capturing the inhabitants and reducing them to slavery.

According to

Arian-Kartli.[2]

Roman and Early Byzantine era

Along with the rest of Colchis, Abkhazia was conquered by Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus between c. 110 and 63 BC, then taken by the Roman commander Pompey and incorporated into the Roman Empire in AD 61. The Roman rule here was tenuous and according to Josephus a Roman garrison of 3,000 hoplites and a fleet of 40 vessels could only control the ports. The Greek settlements suffered from the wars, piracy, and attacks of local tribes (during one of them Dioskurias and Pityus were sacked in AD 50).[3] Roman documents mention a regiment consisting of Abasgoi (Ala Prima Abasgorum) that served in Kharga Oasis in Egypt in the 4th century AD.[4]

In the 3rd century AD, the Lazi tribe came to dominate most of Colchis, establishing the kingdom of Lazica, locally known as Egrisi. It was subordinate to Constantinople; its kings had to be confirmed by the emperor and it contributed to the imperial treasury. By the 5th century, according to Procopius, the kings of Lazica no longer paid taxes to the empire, appointed the dukes of Abkhaz and Svans without consultation and garrisoned Sevastopolis. The endorsement of the rulers of Lazica by the emperor became a formality.[5] Some locals served in the Roman army, Ala Prima Abasgorum which was stationed in Egypt.[6]

Colchis was a scene of the protracted rivalry between the

Byzantine and Sassanid empires, culminating in the Lazic War from 542 to 562. The war resulted in the decline of Lazica, and the Abasgi in their dense forests won a degree of autonomy under the Byzantine authority. During this era, the Byzantines built Sebastopolis in the region. Their land, known to the Byzantines as Abasgia, was a prime source of eunuchs for the empire until Justinian I (527-565) forbid the castration of boys. The people were pagan and worshiped groves and trees until a mission sent by the emperor Justinian I around 550 converted the people to Christianity and built a church.[7][8] However bishop Stratophiles of Pytius attended the Council of Nicaea as early as 325.[9] Byzantines constructed defensive fortifications that may have partially survived to this day as the Kelasuri Wall.[10]

Medieval Abkhazia

Anacopia Fortress

As the Abasgi grew in relative strength, the name Abasgia came to denote a larger area populated by various ethnic groups including

Arabs
penetrated the area in the 730s, but did not subdue it; about then the term Abkhazeti ("the land of the Abkhazians") first appeared in the Georgian annals, giving rise to the name Abkhazia, which is used today in most foreign languages. Through their dynastic intermarriages and alliance with other Georgian princes, the Abasgian dynasty acquired most of Lazica/Egrisi, and in the person of
Khazar khan thus securing the northern frontiers and helping counter the Byzantine influence.[12]
The capital of the kingdom was transferred to the Georgian city of
Georgian Orthodox patriarchate of Mtskheta.[13][14] The Abkhaz participated in the rebellion of Thomas the Slav against Byzantine in 821-823. While the Byzantines sent their fleet to the Black Sea ports several times in the 9th century their ability to influence the events in the Abkhazia was limited by the internal strife and the fight against Bulgarians.[12]

The kingdom is frequently referred in modern history writing as the Egrisi-Abkhazian kingdom due to the fact that medieval authors viewed the new monarchy as a

successor state of Egrisi and sometimes used the terms interchangeably. By this time the majority of the population of the kingdom was likely Georgian. The Abkhazian Kings probably used Georgian as the state language in spite of their Abkhaz origins.[12]

The most prosperous period of the Abkhazian kingdom was between 850 and 950, when it dominated the whole western Georgia and claimed control even of the easternmost Georgian provinces. The terms "Abkhazia" and "Abkhazians" were used in a broad sense during this period – and for some while later – and covered, for all practical purposes, all the population of the kingdom regardless of their ethnicity.

K'art'li from his father and united the kingdoms of Abkhazia and Georgia into a single Georgian feudal state.[16]

This state reached the apex of its strength and prestige under the queen Tamar (1184–1213). On one occasion, a contemporary Georgian chronicler mentions a people called Apsars. This source explains the sobriquet 'Lasha' of Tamar's son and successor George IV as meaning "enlightenment" in the language of the Apsars. Some modern linguists link this nickname to the modern Abkhaz words a-lasha for "bright", identifying the Apsars with the possible ancestors of the modern-day Abkhaz.[17]

Bagrat III of Georgia; of the House of Bagrationi

According to the Georgian chronicles, the princely family of

Russian annexation in the 1860s. In the 1240s, Mongols divided Georgia into eight military-administrative sectors (dumans). The territory of contemporary Abkhazia formed part of the duman administered by Tsotne Dadiani.[19]

The

Vakhushti and a few modern ones claimed that the Kelasuri Wall was built by prince Levan II Dadiani of Mingrelia as a protection against Abkhaz.[21]

Ottoman rule

In the 1570s, the

Persian empires per the Peace of Amasya, with Abkhazia, along with all of western Georgia, remaining in the hands of the Ottomans. As a result, Abkhazia came under the increasing influence of Turkey and Islam, gradually losing its cultural and religious ties with the rest of Georgia. According to the Soviet historical science, Turkey, after the conquest has aimed at obliterating the material and spiritual culture of Abkhazia and forcibly convert the population to Islam, which led to numerous insurrections (in 1725, 1728, 1733, 1771 and 1806) [22]

Towards the end of the 17th century, the principality of Abkhazia broke up into several fiefdoms, depriving many areas of any centralized authority. The region became a theatre of widespread

Adyghe clansmen migrated from the North Caucasus
mountains and blended with the local ethnic elements, significantly changing the region's demographic situation. In the mid-18th century, the Abkhazians revolted against the Ottoman rule and took hold of Suhum-Kale, but soon the Turks regained the control of the fortress and granted it to a loyal prince of the Shervashidze family.

Kingdom of Imereti in the 16th century

Russian rule

Russia annexed eastern Georgia in 1800 and took over Mingrelia in 1803.

Sefer Ali-Bey Shervashidze
, who lived in Mingrelia, was or became a Christian and was married to the Mingrellian ruler's sister. The Russians or Mingrelians claimed that Aslan-Bey had murdered his father. In August 1808, three months after Kelesh's death, a Mingrelian force failed to take Sukhumi. In February 1810 Russia recognized Sefer-Bey as hereditary prince of Abkhazia. In June of that year a Russian fleet captured Sukhumi and Aslan-Bey fled. Sefer-Bey, who ruled until 1821, was unable to control the countryside, things became disorganized and there were a number of revolts involving Aslan-Bey.

Meeting of Circassian Princes in the Valley of the Sochi River by Gregory Gagarin (1841). The print depicts several influential Abkhaz noblemen who played an active role in the politics of Abkhazia and in the regional conflicts

Initially, the Russian control hardly extended beyond Suhum-kale and the

Muhajirs, and emigrated to the Ottoman possessions between 1866 and 1878. In 1881, the number of the Abkhaz in the Russian Empire was estimated at only 20,000.[24] Furthermore, a great deal of the population was forcibly displaced to Turkey (Muhajirs) and in 1877 the population of Abkhazia was 78,000, whereas at the end of the same year there were only 46,000 left.[22]

Large areas of the region were left uninhabited and many Armenians, Georgians, Russians and others subsequently migrated to Abkhazia, resettling much of the vacated territory.

"refugee population" and deprived of the right to settle in the coastal areas.[31][32]

Map of Sukhumi district (Abkhazia), 1890s

Meanwhile, in 1870, bound

slaves, were liberated in Abkhazia as a part of the Russian serfdom reforms. The peasants got between 3 and 8 ha and had to pay huge redemption payments (the landowners got up to 275 ha); furthermore, according to a contemporary Russian official, peasants were mostly left with rocky mountain slopes and low-lying bogs. The liberation in Abkhazia was more problematic than elsewhere as it failed to take into account fully the distinction between free, partly free and unfree peasants in the Abkhazian society.[33]

This reform triggered the moderate development of

timber) began to develop. Health resorts started to be built. A small town of Gagra, acquired by a German prince Peter of Oldenburg
, a member of the Russian royal family, turned to a resort of particular tourist interest early in the 1900s (decade).

After the abolition of the autocephalous status of the Georgian Church (1811) begins the process of Russification and the Abkhaz Church. An attempt to transfer service from Georgian into Slavic, there is also a desire to introduce as an antagonist of the Georgian - Abkhazian (Apsua) identity. Against this trend, actively advocated the advanced Abkhazian society, trying to convince Russian officials that Abkhazia historically, in their culture, religion, etc., is an integral part of Georgia. In 1870, in a memo to deputies of the Abkhazian nobility and Samurzakan (Emhvari B., M. Marchand, Margani T., K. Inal-ipa) to the Chairman of the Tiflis Committee of caste landed for Prince Svyatopolk-Mirsky emphasized that " Abkhazia ancient times was part of the former Georgian kingdom ... " The note provides evidence to support the common historical destiny of the Georgian and Abkhaz peoples, who are, according to the authors, "important witnesses accessories Abkhazia to Georgia" and expressed the hope that they (Abkhazians) are not are "excluded from the overall family of the Georgian people, to which from time immemorial belonged to." 4 In 1916, the Tbilisi visited the Abkhazian delegation consisting of M-princes Shervashidze M. Emhvari, A. Inal-ipa, and representatives of the peasantry P. Anchabadze, B. Ezugbaya and A. Chukbar. On behalf of the Abkhaz people, they petitioned for economic and cultural development of the region and raised the question of the transformation of the Sukhumi district into a separate province. "If this is impossible", told delegates, then in any case do not connect it (Sukhum district) to any other province, except Kutaisi. Equally urgent was the demand of the deputation is not separated from the exarchate of Georgia Sukhumi bishoprics, which has always been an inseparable part of the Georgian Church.[citation needed]

In the

Russian Revolution of 1917
.

Abkhazia from 1917 to 1921

The

Menshevik
group.

In March 1918, local Bolsheviks under the leadership of Nestor Lakoba, a close associate of Joseph Stalin, capitalized on agrarian disturbances and, supported by the revolutionary peasant militias, kiaraz, won power in Sukhumi in April 1918. The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, which claimed the region as its part, sanctioned the suppression of the revolt and, on May 17, the National Guard of Georgia ousted the Bolshevik commune in Sukhumi.

Meanwhile, a short-lived Transcaucasian federation came to an end and the independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG) was proclaimed on May 26, 1918. On June 8, a delegation of the APC negotiated a union with Georgia which gave autonomy to Abkhazia. All domestic affairs were to be under the jurisdiction of the APC, while the central government established the office of Minister of Abkhazian Affairs and the post of the Governor-General of Abkhazia. Abkhaz deputies gained three of 28 seats preserved for ethnic minorities in Georgia's parliament.

The relations between the central and autonomous authorities were soon clouded by the abortive landing, on June 27, 1918, of a Turkish force supported by the Abkhaz nobles, J. Marghan and A. Shervashidze. Georgia responded with the arrest of several Abkhaz leaders and the limitation of the autonomous powers of the APC that precipitated some sympathies from the Abkhaz to the Russian

Soviet invasion of Georgia
.

Soviet Abkhazia

Nestor Lakoba, a Bolshevik leader of Abkhazia from 1921 to 1936
See also: Socialist Soviet Republic of Abkhazia and Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic

Despite the 1920

11th Red Army invaded Georgia on February 11, 1921, and marched on Tbilisi. Almost simultaneously, 9th (Kuban
) Army entered Abkhazia on February 19. Supported by the local pro-Bolshevik guerillas, the Soviet troops took control of most of Abkhazia in a series of battles from February 23 to March 7, and proceeded into the neighbouring region of Mingrelia.

On March 4, Soviet power was established in Sukhumi, with the formation of the Abkhazian Soviet Socialist Republic (

August Uprising in Georgia
, a last desperate attempt to restore the independence of Georgia from the Soviet Union.

During the

Georgian and all the native language schools were closed, ethnic Georgians were guaranteed key official positions, many place names were changed to Georgian ones.[35][36] In the terror of 1937-38, the ruling elite was purged of Abkhaz and by 1952 over 80% of the 228 top party and government officials and enterprise managers were ethnic Georgians; there remained 34 Abkhaz, 7 Russians and 3 Armenians in these positions.[37] Between 1937 and 1953 tens of thousands of peasants from Western Georgia were settled in Abkhazia. In the 1926 Soviet census, the Abkhaz accounted for 26.4% of the region's population. The demographic engineering of the late Stalin period brought this proportion down to 17—18%. Abkhazia is mountainous and has a shortage of arable land, which made it difficult to send in new settlers. This was one of the reasons why in 1949 the Greek and Turkish minorities were deported from Abkhazia to Kazakhstan and other Central Asian republics, and Georgians were settled in the formerly Greek and Turkish villages.[37][38] Abkhazia experienced collectivisation in 1936–1938, much later than most of USSR.[39]

Stalin's five-year plans also resulted in the resettlement of many Russians, Armenians and Georgians into the existing Abkhaz, Georgian, Greek and other minority population to work in the growing agricultural sector. The Greek population of Abkhazia was completely deported by Stalin in a single night in 1949 to Central Asia with Georgian immigrants taking over their homes. In 1959 the surviving Greeks were allowed to return. During the 1992-93 war, some 15,000 Greeks fled the turmoil in the region to Greece.

The repression of the Abkhaz and other groups ended after Stalin's death and Beria's execution (1953),[40] Abkhaz schools were reopened and a new script, based on Cyrillic, was devised for the Abkhaz language and the Abkhaz were given a greater role in the governance of the republic. While previously the heads of the local Communist Party were ethnic Georgians, starting from the 1960s this position, the most powerful one in the republic, was always held by an Abkhaz. Ethnic Abkhaz also headed most of the government ministries and held 70% of all positions in the administration.[41] As in most of the smaller autonomous republics, the Soviet government encouraged the development of culture and particularly of literature.

The following three decades were marked by attempts of the Abkhaz Communist elite to make the autonomous structures more Abkhaz, but their efforts constantly met resistance from the Georgians. Abkhaz nationalists attempted on several occasions, most notably in 1978, to convince

Communist party department heads were ethnic Abkhaz.[42] Even though these concessions eased tensions only partially they made Abkhazia prosperous even by the standards of Georgia which was one of the wealthiest Soviet republic of that time.[39][43]
The favourable geographic and climatic conditions were successfully exploited to make Abkhazia a destination for hundreds of thousands of tourists, gaining for the region a reputation of "Soviet Riviera."

History of Education in Abkhazia

The Soviet authorities invested significantly into building a modern educational system in Abkhazia. In the 1920s and 1930s the Soviet government founded many new schools and several educational and training colleges (called “Uchilische” in Russian language). The number of locally trained professionals grew from few dozens in the 1920s to several thousands in the 1980s.

By the 1980s, Sukhumi City became a home for largest educational institutions (both higher education institutions and Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges) and largest students' community in Abkhazia.

There was some decline in a number of students in the 1990s. However, between 2000 and 2019 the student's population stabilised. Since the academic year 2020-2021 the number of college and university students even showed a small increase.

Abkhaz State University (1979) has 42 departments organized into 8 faculties providing education to about 3300 students (as of 2019, est.).

According to the official statistical data, Abkhazia has 13 TVET colleges (as of 2019, est.) providing education and vocational training to youth mostly in the capital city, though there are several colleges in all major district centers. Independent international assessments suggest that these colleges train in about 20 different specialties attracting between 1000 and 1300 young people (aged between 16 and 29) (as of 2019, est.). The largest colleges are as follows:

Abkhaz Multiindustrial College (1959) (from 1959 to 1999 - Sukhumi Trade and Culinary School),

Sukhumi State College (1904) (from 1904 to 1921 - Sukhumi Real School; from 1921 to 1999 - Sukhumi Industrial Technical School),

Sukhumi Art College (1935),

Sukhum Medical College (1931)

The Abkhazian War

Main article:
Abkhaz–Georgian conflict

As the Soviet Union began to disintegrate at the end of the 1980s, ethnic tension grew between the Abkhaz and Georgians over Georgia's moves towards independence. Many Abkhaz opposed this, fearing that an independent Georgia would lead to the elimination of their autonomy, and argued instead for the establishment of Abkhazia as a separate Soviet republic in its own right. The dispute turned violent on 16 July 1989 in Sukhumi. At least eighteen people were killed and another 137, mostly Georgians, injured when the Soviet Georgian government gave in to Georgian popular demand to transform a Georgian sector of Sukhumi State University into a branch of Tbilisi State University and the Abkhaz nationalists, including armed groups,[44] demonstrated at the building where the entrance examinations were being held.[45][46] After several days of violence, Soviet troops restored order in the city and blamed rival nationalist paramilitaries for provoking confrontations.

Georgia boycotted the March 17, 1991 all-Union referendum on the renewal of the Soviet Union proposed by Mikhail Gorbachev. However, the referendum was held in Abkhazia and 52.3% of the population of Abkhazia (virtually all the non-Georgians) took part, and participants voted by an overwhelming majority (98.6%) in favour of preserving the Union.[47][48] Most of the non-Georgian population subsequently declined to participate in the March 31 referendum on Georgia's independence, which was supported by a huge majority of the population of Georgia. Shortly after it Georgia declared independence on 9 April 1991, under the rule of nationalist[49] and former Soviet dissident Zviad Gamsakhurdia.

Gamsakhurdia's rule became unpopular, and that December, the Georgian National Guard, under the command of Tengiz Kitovani, laid siege to the offices of Gamsakhurdia's government in Tbilisi. After weeks of stalemate, he was forced to resign in January 1992. Gamsakhurdia was replaced as president by Eduard Shevardnadze, the former Soviet foreign minister and architect of the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

On 21 February 1992, Georgia's ruling Military Council announced that it was abolishing the Soviet-era constitution and restoring the 1921 Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Georgia. Many Abkhaz interpreted this as an abolition of their autonomous status. In response, on 23 July 1992, the Abkhazia government effectively declared secession from Georgia, although this gesture went unrecognized by any other country. The Georgian government accused Gamsakhurdia supporters of kidnapping Georgia's interior minister and holding him captive in Abkhazia. The Georgian government dispatched 3,000 troops to the region, ostensibly to restore order. Heavy fighting between Georgian forces and Abkhazian militia broke out in and around Sukhumi. The Abkhazian authorities rejected the government's claims, claiming that it was merely a pretext for an invasion. After about a week's fighting and many casualties on both sides, Georgian government forces managed to take control of most of Abkhazia, and closed down the regional parliament.

The Abkhazians' military defeat was met with a hostile response by the self-styled

Chechens, Cossacks, Ossetians and others). Hundreds of volunteer paramilitaries from Russia (including the then little known Shamil Basayev
) joined forces with the Abkhazian separatists to fight the Georgian government forces. Regular Russian forces also reportedly sided with the secessionists. In September, the Abkhaz and Russian paramilitaries mounted a major offensive after breaking a cease-fire, which drove the Georgian forces out of large swathes of the republic. Shevardnadze's government accused Russia of giving covert military support to the rebels with the aim of "detaching from Georgia its native territory and the Georgia-Russian frontier land". The year 1992 ended with the rebels in control of much of Abkhazia northwest of Sukhumi.

The conflict remained stalemated until July 1993, following an agreement in Sochi, when the Abkhaz separatist militias launched an abortive attack on Georgian-held Sukhumi. The capital was surrounded and heavily shelled, with Shevardnadze himself trapped in the city.

Although a truce was declared at the end of July, this collapsed after a renewed Abkhaz attack in mid-September. After ten days of heavy fighting, Sukhumi fell on 27 September 1993. Eduard Shevardnadze narrowly escaped death, having vowed to stay in the city no matter what, but he was eventually forced to flee when separatist snipers fired on the hotel where he was residing. Abkhaz, North Caucasians militants and their allies committed widespread atrocities after the fall of Sukhumi. Large numbers of remaining Georgian civilians were murdered and their property was looted.[50]

The separatist forces quickly overran the rest of Abkhazia as the Georgian government faced a second threat: an uprising by the supporters of the deposed Zviad Gamsakhurdia in the region of Mingrelia (Samegrelo). In the chaotic aftermath of defeat almost all ethnic Georgian population fled the region by sea or over the mountains escaping a large-scale ethnic cleansing initiated by the victors.[50]

Many thousands died, including 2,000 civilians from the Abkhaz side

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Summits in Budapest (1994),[53] Lisbon (1996)[54] and Istanbul (1999)[55]

Post-war Abkhazia

Map of modern Abkhazia

The economic situation in the republic after war was very hard and it was aggravated by the sanctions imposed by its neighbours. Georgia and Russia closed the borders of Abkhazia to the movement of goods in 1993 and 1994 respectively. Additionally, Russia prohibited all male Abkhazians between 16 and 60 years old from crossing the border. In 1996 the Commonwealth of Independent States banned transport, trade, and financial ties with Abkhazia at state level.[56] During the 1990s numerous people of all ethnicities left Abkhazia mainly for Russia. Since 1997 Russia effectively dropped these sanctions which tremendously helped republic's economy. In 1999, Abkhazia officially declared its independence,[8] which was recognized by almost no other nations.

The return of Georgians to Gali district of Abkhazia was halted by the fighting which broke out there in 1998. However, from 40,000 to 60,000 refugees have returned to Gali district since 1998, including persons commuting daily across the ceasefire line and those migrating seasonally in accordance with agricultural cycles.

After several peaceful years tourists again began to visit Abkhazia, however their number is only about a half of the pre-war number.

In 2004 presidential elections were held which caused much controversy when the candidate backed by outgoing president

Raul Khadjimba - was apparently defeated by Sergey Bagapsh
. The tense situation in the republic led to the cancellation of the election results by the Supreme Court. After that the deal was struck between former rivals to run jointly — Bagapsh as a presidential candidate and Khajimba as a vice presidential candidate. They received more than 90% of the votes in the new election.

After the 1992-1993 War the Upper

2008 South Ossetia War
.

August 2008 saw another crisis start as South Ossetia in Georgia started hostilities aimed towards secession. This violence spread somewhat into the Abkhazia region again, with added stress created by the Russian forces massing.[8] Georgia and Russia signed a cease-fire soon after requiring Russia to withdraw.[8]

Meanwhile, the efforts of Russia to isolate Georgian population in Abkhazia from the rest of Georgia continued. On 24 October 2008 the railroad bridge of Shamgon-Tagiloni, connecting the city of Zugdidi in Georgia with the Abkhazian Gali district (populated mainly by Georgians)[57] was destroyed. According to Georgian and French sources it was done by Russian army; Abkhazian sources maintained it was a Georgian diversion.[58][59] Per Georgian sources on 29 October 2008 Russian forces dismantled another bridge - the one situated between the villages of Orsantia (ru) and Otobaia and linking a total of five villages - Otobaia, Pichori (ru), Barghebi, Nabakevi (ru) and Gagida (ru); thus the local population was deprived of the opportunity to move freely in the region.[60][61]

See also

References

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  2. ^ Giorgi L. Kavtaradze. The Interrelationship between the Transcaucasian and Anatolian Populations by the Data of the Greek and Latin Literary Sources. The Thracian World at the Crossroads of Civilisations. Reports and Summaries. The 7th International Congress of Thracology. P. Roman (ed.). Bucharest: the Romanian Institute of Thracology, 1996.
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  15. ^ For example, the Byzantine historians in 12th century sometimes called united Georgia as Abasgia (Abkhazia, Abasgoi) and its king Abasg. Georgika VIII, page 33 (in Georgian) [1] Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine
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  25. ISBN 978-90-04-09796-4
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  26. ^ Lortkipanidze M., The Abkhazians and Abkhazia, Tbilisi 1990.
  27. ^ "Conciliation Resources - Demographic change in Abkhazia". Archived from the original on 2010-08-19. Retrieved 2007-03-10.
  28. ^ Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedia.
  29. ^ Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedia.
  30. ^ "(1911) "Abkhazia" Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.)". Archived from the original on 2013-06-23. Retrieved 2007-03-10.
  31. ^ Brooks, Willis (1995) "Russia’s conquest and pacification of the Caucasus: relocation becomes a pogrom on the post-Crimean period" Nationalities Papers 23(4): pp. 675-86
  32. ISBN 978-0-8014-3327-6
  33. ^ Lang, David Marshall (1962). A Modern History of Soviet Georgia. New York: Grove Press. p. 103.[ISBN missing]
  34. ^ English translation of the 1924 Constitution of the USSR Archived 2006-12-10 at the Wayback Machine
  35. ^
    UNHCR, The Dynamics and Challenges of Ethnic Cleansing: The Georgia-Abkhazia Case Archived 2008-09-04 at the Wayback Machine
    , also in Refugee Survey Quarterly 1997, Volume 16, Number 3, pp. 77-109
  36. ^ Report of the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgian SSR Akaki Mgeladze to Joseph Stalin regarding the problem of Abkhazia Archived 2008-07-06 at the Wayback Machine, 4.12.1953 (in Russian)
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External links

Wikimedia Atlas of Abkhazia

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